Smithfield Hams. Food Fight

Last Friday night "NOW" the television program on PBS Channel 13 broadcast a story about the Smithfield meat packing company in Tar Heel NC. It is the world's largest hog processing plant. Each day, some 5,500 workers slaughter and cut up over 30,000 hogs. "Meatpacking is dirty and dangerous work. But in the Tar Heel plant, Smithfield has made an already difficult work situation much worse. A high risk of injury and mistreatment of injured workers, inflamed racial tensions, and illegal anti-union activities make some workers say: "they're not killing hogs, they're killing people." ". If you would like to see plant and read about it the NOW program is posted on the web at http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/250/smithfield.html It is said that a member of Christ Church was one of the producers of this program

But this reminded me that at Thanksgiving time the UCC Justics and Witness Ministry sent me a notice about the Smithfield company and it's treatment of workers. This is posted at http://www.ucc.org/justice/smithfield.htm They recommended an number of action items that we should take, among them are:

• Locate meat from Smithfield Packing Company. Learn how to identify meat from Tar Heel and tell the UFCW where the meat is sold. Remember Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a huge company with many plants, union and non-union. Some plants treat workers with fairness and dignity. Our concern is with the Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, NC, only.
• Write to Smithfield's chairman. Send a note urging the chairman of Smithfield Foods, Inc., to treat workers with fairness and dignity, and allow them to freely choose whether to form a union. Write to Mr. Joseph Luter, III, Chairman, Smithfield Foods, Inc., 200 Commerce St., Smithfield, VA 23430. Postcards addressed to Mr. Luter with a pre-printed message are available from JWM (jwm@ucc.org; 866-822-8224, ext 3700). We invite you to host an educational event at your church and provide these postcards for people to sign.

  • Ask your congregation to sign the United Food and Commercial Workers' union Resolution for Justice at Smithfield .

• Hold a "Smithfield-free" Thanksgiving or Christmas party. Throw a party for the holidays and serve no pork from the Smithfield Packing Company's Tar Heel, NC, plant. Ask guests to send notes, available from JWM, to Smithfield's chairman asking for justice for Tar Heel workers. Download a party pack from UFCW.